As Angie Anderson hung up wreaths and lights around the Red Cedar Cafe, her gentle care for the restaurant and its patrons shined. “It puts people in a good mood,” Anderson, the owner and operator of Red Cedar Cafe, said of the decorations.
As a kid, Rachel York dreamt of having multiple careers. As she transitioned into adulthood she channeled her childhood dreams to became a multifaceted performer working as a actress, comedienne, singer and dancer.
For the first time, East Lansing is hosting the Midwestern Sectional Figure Skating Championships at Suburban Ice Nov. 19-23. The competition features 234 novice and intermediate skaters from 22 states, all competing for the chance to advance to the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships in January in Boston.
As Thanksgiving approaches, many students will head home to enjoy the holiday with family. However, for many international students, the break is too short to travel home.
For about 50 years, students and faculty have walked into the Abrams Planetarium to learn about stars, galaxies, black holes and constellations. Out of the 38 planetariums in Michigan, this planetarium has been in the center of MSU’s campus since 1963.
The 2014 USA Curling Arena National Championships will be sliding into greater Lansing for the first time June 12-15. The Arena National Championships is the newest curling competition designed specifically for curlers who utilize arena facilities. Hosted by the Greater Lansing Sports Authority, USA Curling, the Lansing Curling Club and the Summit Sports and Ice Complex, the championships will welcome hundreds of male and female curlers from across the country to face off on the ice. Originating in 16th-century Scotland, curling is played by two teams of four players, each aiming to slide stones across a sheet of ice with a broom or brush toward an area segmented into four rings. Each team has eight stones weighing around 40 pounds a piece.
For weeks leading up to Tuesday, social media was peppered with pleas to vote on a website which promised an advance screening of the movie “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” to the college with the most votes. The website was cryptic and provided little information about the contest’s organizer, Cross Culture Marketing Group; yet MSU students appear to have flocked in droves to the poll, winning the contest by more than 4,500 votes.
“Music is more than we are — we have to go beyond ourselves,” world renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma said while pushing students and the audience to feel the music during his masterclass Tuesday. The masterclass was held for the College of Music through a contract Ma had with Wharton Center that also included a Monday night concert.
He’s slept under overpasses, pushed through unrelenting rain, faced the brutality of an unobscured summer sun and wrapped T-shirts around his legs to keep warm. For about four months, East Lansing resident Brian Zygmontowicz traveled from Brunswick, Maine to Key West, Fla. without a penny in his pocket.
Yesterday marked the launch of the seventh annual MSU Help Tackle Hunger Food Drive, a collaborative effort between Residential and Hospitality Services and MSU’s athletics department. The Help Tackle Hunger Food Drive is collecting canned food, non-perishable food, personal care items and monetary donations around campus until Nov. 29.
Passion for the arts and its development is something MSU alumna Debbie Mikula has had since middle school. Now, being the newly elected executive director of the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, Mikula said she will continue acting as an arts administrator and being involved with the success of artists and other art organizations.
As a child in Taiwan, music performance doctoral student Chi-Hui Kao listened to renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and dreamt of the opportunity to play alongside him. On Tuesday, Kao and two other College of Music students will be given the opportunity to play with, listen to and learn from the cellist in a graduate-level class at Fairchild Theatre.
As students lined the hallway in IM Sports-Circle at 11:30 p.m. Friday night, a half hour before began, some yawned with bleary eyes while others radiated with excitement and anticipation. The night was far from over for participants of St. Jude Up ‘til Dawn, who pulled an all-nighter to raise money for children with serious illnesses.
Members of MSU and East Lansing community had the opportunity to vicariously travel to Indonesia on Nov. 16 at the Erickson Hall Kiva. The Indonesian Student Association held the sixth annual Indonesian Culture Night , showcasing traditional Indonesian music, dance performances and traditional food for audience members.
“MAMMA MIA!” made spontaneously bursting into song seem like a perfectly reasonable and highly desirable occurrence Friday night. And as ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” blared from Wharton Center’s Cobb Great Hall, audience members jumped to their feet and did just that.
Several times a week, MSU alumna Ann Chrapkiewicz steps into a room heated to 105 degrees to guide students and community members as they bend and stretch their bodies to maximize their own health. Chrapkiewicz, a ten-year veteran of the Bikram yoga style, otherwise known as hot yoga, opened East Lansing’s first Bikram yoga studio — Bikram Yoga Capital Area — earlier this year to the enthusiasm of residents.
MSU alumnus Terry Johnson’s passion for hockey has translated into his work and something he can carry around to show his love for the sport. Johnson founded Detroit-based Original Stix which produces iPhone cases out of hockey sticks used by college, minor league and professional hockey teams.
The feel good musical “MAMMA MIA!” will be returning to Wharton Center for the fourth time in 10 years Nov. 15-17, bringing high-energy dancing, comedic moments and timeless music. Set on a Greek island, “MAMMA MIA!” tells the story of Sophie, a 20-year-old bride-to-be whose dream is to have her father walk her down the aisle.
“A girl in the shape of a monster. A monster in the shape of a girl.” The dejected announcement was made as the audience watched a confused girl who finally acknowledged the monsters around and within her. Playwright Joan MacLeod illustrates how monstrous teenage girls can be in the emotional play “The Shape of a Girl,” coming to Wharton Center’s Pasant Theater Friday.
Whether he’s dancing across Spartan Stadium or taking pictures with ecstatic fans, Sparty is an unforgettable MSU icon. Now, the MSU Association of Future Alumni is hunting for someone to fill the mascot’s big green shoes.